Ashes
by Why so Sirius1236
Summary: Phil Coulson had seen some strange stuff during his time as a member of SHIELD. Hell, he thought he had seen it all. If there had been one thing he had never expected it would have been to see someone come back to life. Eventual Steve/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Oh. Um… hi! Weeelllll, I am kind of sort of maybe slightly obsessed with the new Avenger movie that just came out. Yeah. I'd go with very obsessed, but whatever. This idea hit me the first time I saw the movie and, honestly, I can't keep away from writing it. Hopefully it'll work out! **

Energy. It's a funny thing, really: that thrumming, willful vibration that travels through a medium causing God knows what kind of disturbances in its wake. Maybe that's why those who crave power are so enthralled by it, seduced even. Maybe that's why it's linked to power. Maybe that's why a certain god of mischief had his eyes set on it at that very moment. And maybe that was why I had been called in- well, captured was more fitting- to help with it.

My name is Ashley- Ash for short. My last name doesn't really matter anymore, but it's Wilson. I was a doctor in my third year of residency until SHIELD found out about my other… abilities. I can detect and manipulate electrical currents to my will - pretty handy when your main focus in medicine is the human brain and nervous system.

That's why _he's_ after me, but we'll get to who _he_ is later.

This is my story.

* * *

Ash turned on her side as the alarm clock blared loud and clear into the dark room. She reached over quickly to hit the snooze button. _Five more minutes. That's all I need! _

Sure enough, five minutes later the clock went off, sounding that it was seven a.m. In a fluid motion, Ashley Wilson slung the covers off of her body and turned on the light at her bedside table. She was able to detect her suite mate snoring lightly in the other room and she smiled.

Grabbing her text book on the human body- her Netter as she more fondly referred to it- she opened to somewhere in the middle in preparation for an early morning exam. She grabbed a bagel from her mini-fridge and spread a dollop of cream cheese over it. _Coffee. I need coffee. _

Walking out into the kitchen and living area that she and her roommate, Lauren, shared, she kept the book against her chest, bagel suspended in her mouth as she managed to pull a chair up to the dining room table. She snagged a paper towel from the roll and set the bagel down, and proceeded to glance over her notes as she went about making the coffee. She had already passed this exam in medical school, but she needed to retake it again to take the first step in gaining surgical qualifications. One of the many things she liked about hospitals was that they were very, very thorough. And, honestly, what could one expect from a building full of men and women with type-A personalities?

With a little sigh, she poured the now ready coffee, pushing back dark brown hair from her eyes. She half-expected her roommate to get up at the smell of coffee and she was not disappointed.

"Hey, Ash," Lauren said as she tossed long blonde hair over her shoulder. "That smells amazing."

Ashley looked up at her roommate. "Have some," she said as she went back to her work. She was notorious for not being able to carry on a conversation while she worked. She just couldn't do it. That was one of the many reasons that she had dreamed of being a doctor. No one messed with you or questioned you when you had an M.D. after your name. No one doubted you. You were in control.

_Control._

Her thoughts flashed briefly back to a cold rainy day fifteen years ago, of a man that looked just like her lying flat on his back while the neighbors worked to resuscitate him… sirens everywhere… the rain coming down… she had been young then, though she could not remember exactly how old, and she had never felt more helpless. It had been a heart attack that had killed her father- and she had stood by while he had died. Never again would that helpless girl resurface, never again would she not know what to do in a situation like that.

That was what had driven her through her undergraduate degree, what had driven her to make close to a perfect score on the MCAT, and what had driven her to graduate medical school as one of the top ten students of her class.

"Ash?" Lauren's voice broke through Ashley's thoughts. "You're thinking about it again. I can tell."

Ashley shook her head. She had indeed sat back into a very thoughtful position, arms crossed and looking straight out the window. "Sorry."

Lauren smiled that movie-star smile that she always gave to her patients. Her specialty was Pediatrics and everyone knew her as the "Angel of the Children's Wing" down at the hospital. Kids loved her because they thought she looked like Cinderella. And honestly, Lauren was just as nice as Cinderella and just as pretty. But they didn't share anything beyond appearance in common, not really. Both of Lauren's parents were highly successful lawyers in Atlanta. They had never hurt for money and they had always taken care of her. Another thing: Both of Lauren's parents were still alive.

Ash had never known her mother. She had taken off when Ashley was three. To Ashley, that was the same as being dead.

"Big day in the world of neurosurgery?" Lauren asked as she added a sugar cube to the coffee in her hand. Ashley nodded, as she took off her reading glasses and sucked on the end of one of the ear pieces.

She looked at Ashley. "But I'm not finished in my ER rotation til next week sometime. I think they're just testing my patience."

Lauren let out a laugh. As a pediatrician, she didn't have as long a residency as Ashley did. She was very near finishing hers all together. Ashley, on the other hand, had a long way to go…

Lauren tugged her sleeve down to check the time on her watch. "Well, we'd better go in a few minutes if you want to get there a little early. Traffic's going to get bad soon if we don't watch it."

Ashley nodded. "Let me get this studying done and then we can go."

"Don't push yourself too hard, now. You are already one of the top doctors I know. Just take it easy on yourself."

Ashley nodded and waved her friend off. Lauren went back to her room and shut the door lightly. A few minutes later, Ashley could make out the sound of the shower starting up. Ashley pulled her hair back to keep it out of her face and delved back into the world of anatomy.

* * *

"Come on, Ash, we'll be late if we don't go now!" Ashley heard Lauren downstairs, calling up to her from the car, sunroof rolled out and her blonde head bobbing through it. In a rush, Ashley collected the rest of her charts, grabbed her bag, and slipped out the front door of the apartment.

The hospital that the two were working their residency at was twenty minutes away and Ashley knew from personal experience that they would not be late, but she had learned long ago to just accept Lauren's often overzealous attempts at moving her along.

As soon as her butt hit the passenger seat Lauren had taken off. "I figure we hit the interstate and we can catch up on time that way," she said almost spastically. "Yeah. That'll be fine."

The clock on the dashboard said it was only seven thirty and the official meeting for the interns started at eight. "Lauren, calm down. We'll be fine."

Lauren didn't calm down until the car hit the interstate. Ashley sat back a bit in her seat, finally convinced that she wasn't going to die.

The day passed with the usual car crash victims and trauma treatments in Ashley's branch of the ER. It always made Ashley feel at peace to be there, helping those that needed it. she held the proud record of never losing a patient while they were under her care. In the trauma unit, her abilities served to help locate the main sources of damage in the life forces and nerve impulses of trauma victims. She felt that this was where she belonged. Each time she saved a life, she felt like she was conquering death, taking back a bit of her father in the process.

No one else- not even Lauren- knew about her talent, and many chalked it up to her being naturally gifted.

Her shift ended at five and she walked out to the parking lot to see Lauren, leaning against the car and smoking a cigarette. Ashley rolled her eyes as she plucked the infernal thing from her friend's mouth and stamped it out with the toe of her sneaker. "You said you had quit."

Lauren crossed her arms, looking sadly at the cigarette. "Johny turned me down…" she mumbled.

Ashley just looked at her. "So you decide to start smoking again?" Ashley couldn't believe what she was hearing. Lauren had had the hots for one of the local doctors for forever, but must have actually acted on asking him out. Ashley couldn't imagine why any man would turn her down though.

She cut her eyes at Ashley. "Apparently he's _engaged._" She muttered.

"Oh." Ashley said it stupidly. "I'm sorry, Lauren."

She waved Ashley off. "Do you feel like driving?" she asked pathetically as she handed the car keys to Ashley.

"Sure," she replied as she slipped her jacket on over her hospital scrubs and got behind the wheel.

The two drove in silence for a while. Ashley scoured the road for any sign of trouble as clouds started forming overhead. Rain fell in big glops onto the windshield and lightning spiked in the distance.

_Rain._

Rain always made her sad. But the lightning was enough to make her jump from her seat often times. It was energy that nothing else could be compared to and she always reveled in it. Another shot of lighting streaked across the sky…

"Ash! Look out!" Lauren's voice reached her ears just as the sight of a big pick-up truck swerving into their lane registered with her. There was a slight moment of weightlessness, Lauren's high-pitched screaming, and then the sound of metal twisting and crunching.

Ashley lost sight of anything tangible for the briefest moment before she found herself dangling upside down, her seatbelt the only thing keeping her from falling and breaking her neck on the roof of the overturned car.

"Lauren?" she mumbled, but it was little more than a croak. She blinked once. Twice. "Lauren…"

"Ash?" Lauren's voice was weak. "Where are you?"

Ashley looked over. Lauren was upside down too, but her arm… her arm was… crushed under her awkwardly. She winced as Ashley's eyesight came back into sharper focus. They needed to get out of there…

"Come on," Ashley said quietly, as she braced her hands against the ceiling of the car and undid her belt. It was an awkward feeling, purposefully landing on her head, but she did it anyway. She got out of her side of the car first before walking over to Lauren's side. She was unable to detect a continuous electrical current that typically pulsed from a living thing's heart. That worried her. To her right, as she staggered blindly around, she was able to see the blue pickup truck on the other side of the road, halfway in a ditch, but otherwise no serious damage. Lauren comes first.

She dialed 911 as she got down on her hands and knees to look at her friend. The blonde was now unconscious… and there was no current coming from her body. The feeling of utter helplessness threatened to consume her. No. Not today. She knew what to do this time. She was going to help Lauren!

By the time she had pulled her out of the car, though, her friend's body showed no signs of stirring. She felt no current. "Lauren!" she said quietly. She felt the hair on the backs of her arms stand up as rain came down harder and harder. She started CPR, but it was no use.

She was starting to feel the shock of the crash too as the adrenaline left her system. She looked up to notice thunder clouds, dark and gray, had formed right above her head. Lightning sparked as she got more upset. An ambulance rolled up… followed by a black suburban. Those weren't protocol for roadside wrecks…

She looked up again as the roadside team came running to help Lauren. They wouldn't help her at all. In a last ditch effort to save her friend, instinct took over and she placed two hands on Lauren's chest. She felt really dizzy as she channeled all her thoughts into helping her friend. She was not going to lose anyone like this. Not again.

The clouds opened up in a terrible clamor and Lauren opened her eyes as the team came up to the two doctors.

That was all Ash could make out before the feeling of a bee sting surfaced in her neck and she fell backwards unconscious.

* * *

Phil Coulson had seen some strange stuff during his time as a member of SHIELD. Hell, he had seen it all. Or at least he thought he had. If there had been one thing he had never expected on this job it would have been to see someone come back to life.

His team had been tracking atmosphere disturbances for a while now that the teseract had started acting up. It had been a job all the way from Fury. So, naturally when an atmospheric disruption had occurred so close to where they were researching that infernal cube he had been sent out to look around.

What he got instead was two doctors, one dead and the other working like mad to save her, under a cloud of sheer energy. Then he had seen the cloud give out and come back down to the dead girl… and she had opened her eyes.

Coulson had called it in to Fury. It had been the boss's call to bring the brown headed woman in. He had ordered his men to take her down.

So, like the good ol' special forces they were, they had sedated her and plopped her into the van after leaving a very detailed explanation to the highway patrol that was complete and total malarkey. Coulson had gotten good at that over the years. He had gotten very good.

He looked over his shoulder at the woman handcuffed in the backseat, passed out and leaning against the window. He highly doubted that she was going to be able to help with the teseract's malfunctions, but he turned back around in his seat anyways and called in the success of the mission.

* * *

**Winces. Yeah… That didn't exactly go the way I had planned. I felt like it was too much OC and not enough Avengers. But, I promise, if I continue this will follow the storyline of the movie almost perfectly. Your thoughts on this spur of the moment character? :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Don't own Marvel.**

* * *

The research facility that SHIELD had set up the Tesseract in was a few miles away now. It had gotten dark outside as the black suburban cruised down the nearly deserted interstate. The desert stretched in front and behind the car as it shuttled along the dark road.

Coulson crossed his arms, pressing his finger briefly to his earpiece to listen to a comment that did not pertain to him. The young woman in the back seat let out a groan as they came nearer to the base.

Ash felt the energy pierce her consciousness before anything else. After she felt it hit her in a wave, her eyes shot open, taking in everything all at once. Where was she? Where was Lauren? Then she remembered the bee sting in her neck… that must have been a sedative of some sort.

She blinked back sleep from her eyes as the fogginess cleared from her head. The wave of energy hit her again and she groaned from the sheer force of it. she clutched her head between her hands as she realized she was in a moving vehicle.

"Miss Wilson?" a calm voice said her name from the front seat and she zoned in on who was speaking. "Miss Wilson, can you hear me?"

She closed her eyes tightly before answering. The energy was becoming a lot to focus on. She had never felt anything like this before. "It's _Doctor_ Wilson," she managed.

"Well then, Doctor, we have a lot to fill you in on."

She let out another gasp. This energy… she had never felt so… powerful. "Damn right you do," she mumbled again. She was never this obnoxious, not in normal circumstances. But then again, this wasn't exactly a normal circumstance… she was in the back of a moving government car heading down the interstate in what looked to be the middle of the desert. For all she knew these guys were going to kill her. "Where's my friend? The blonde?"

The agent in the passenger seat answered her question. "She is safe, thanks to you. She will be back to work in no time. That's why we are bringing you in. Did you know you were capable of such prominent atmospheric disruptions?"

Ash just stared at the guy, the darkness weighing in on her as she realized it was nearly ten o'clock at night. "Why don't you start off telling me your name? You obviously know me and I think it only fair for me to know you."

The agent let out a small sigh, but he never dropped that same, monotonous manner. "My name is Agent Coulson." He indicated to the driver. "This is Agent Sitwell along with a few others you will not need to know." Ash looked behind her at two other men in what looked like SWAT team suits in the seats behind her. Instead of SWAT team badges, though, they bore badges that said SHIELD. What the hell was SHIELD? Something told her she would find out soon enough.

"Fine, Agent Coulson," she said coolly. "As a matter of fact, I did know about my abilities. I have had them since I was very young."

Coulson nodded then. "Well, then Doctor Wilson, we hope you can be of service to SHIELD here in a few moments."

Ash buried her face in her hands in irritation. "What about my job? I have patients that need tending to in the morning…" she trailed off as she was hit with another bout of energy. No one answered her about her job.

The car travelled to the point that could only be the main point of emission for the energy. By this time, every sense was tingling, every nerve standing on end. "If you will follow me, Doctor," Agent Coulson said as he opened the door for her and she stepped out gingerly. She nearly fell over and had to brace herself against the car for a moment. She wasn't sure if her dizziness came from the sedative or the energy. Probably both.

All around her, scientists and agents were rushing madly around. What was going on here? She followed Coulson, though. Mainly because she did not have much choice either way. Power kept hitting her in tidal waves. She was barely able to compare it to the waves that she felt from a dying patient's heart beat: slow, methodical, but with each pump sending out any and all it had to give.

She shuddered at the mental picture. Something told her that this thing- whatever it was- wasn't dying. It was becoming more powerful as she grew nearer to it. She could also feel herself growing more powerful as well. She suddenly felt as if she could run three marathons, jump over the building, or lift the black suburban that had carried her here.

All those thoughts were quickly pushed from her consciousness as she entered the building to her left. She kept her eyes trained on the back of Agent Coulson's balding head, focusing on her breathing. Everywhere, people were rushing around.

"Um, Agent Coulson?" she said. "Is it just me or is this an evacuation?"

Coulson turned around briefly, retaining that same brisk pace, but talking to her at the same time. "We have a critical situation that struck after that disturbance you caused. We are evacuating any personnel that are not required to be here."

And yet here he was, dragging her, a civilian neurosurgeon, into all of this. She stopped dead. "What's causing this?"

Coulson sighed in irritation and turned around to face the now stationary woman. "Doctor Wilson, if you follow me people with more expertise in this field can explain it to you."

Ash let out a huff, staying where she was… until she felt an M16 prod her forward. If there was one thing she knew from her experience in the ER, bullet wounds were a main source of injury to her patients. She could never get over the look on the patients' faces as they described the feeling of being slapped with a hot poker wherever the bullet wound had occurred. She had no interest in challenging that theory and decided to keep moving. "But I want to go home after I finish this. Tonight. That's my condition." She was barely able to discern Coulson's slight nod before they were walking through the halls again, dodging people.

Coulson took her through hallway after hallway, down several flights of stairs, and finally into a large room that looked like an airplane hangar. She looked up to see long cables coming down from the rafters… and leading straight into a metallic arch that held some sort of… The wave of energy that hit her this time came directly from a glowing blue cube situated just under the arch. She could see the currents it was emitting.

Scientists moved around frantically. "Sir, It's spiking a second time, much higher gamma readings than before." The woman that had spoken was situated at a desk, obviously monitoring whatever that thing was.

Ash looked over at Coulson who had answered his radio suddenly. "Yes sir. I will meet you up there. Yes. It just spiked again. We are gaining high readings of gamma. I will see you at the helicopter pad." Coulson turned to Ashley. "Doctor Wilson, may I introduce you to Doctor Erik Selvig."

An older man in a plaid shirt stepped away from the woman that had just spoken to briefly shake hands with Ashley. "Erik, she can help you. Fury wanted her here for that reason. See if you can get her to pinpoint where the emission is the strongest."

Erik shook Coulson's hand, but he was obviously very stressed out. Ash tried not to tremble as a wave of sheer energy hit her again. "We may not have long, Phil. This thing has not ever been this active."

Coulson nodded in understanding. He turned to Ashley. "My Director will be down here shortly. Thank you for your cooperation." And with that, he turned on his heel and walked back the way he had come in.

Ash turned to Erik. "So you are a doctor?' he said absently. "Tell me how Philip thinks you are going to help me." he began to type away at a laptop as he spoke, obviously not paying much attention to Ashley.

"Well," she said. "I suppose he decided my talents could be of use." She heard Erik laugh a bit.

"Doctor Wilson, If we don't get this thing back to a stable point whatever 'talents' you have will not be enough."

Ashley chewed her lower lip, tying her hair back with a rubber band. "What is this thing?"

Erik kept working, walking over to plug something into the computer's mainframe. "It's called the Tesseract; highly powerful, extremely dangerous if used in the wrong way. There are several theories surrounding its origins, none of which overlap or draw any connection with eachother."

"But what does it do?"

"We have been developing it for over a year now at this position in an attempt to harness clean energy. We got a reading of atmospheric disturbance a few hours ago just north of the city- I am guessing that was you since Coulson seems to think you can help calm it back down."

Ashley nodded. "Why don't you just unplug it?" she asked, indicating the countless cables that extended from the ceiling. Selvig shook his head.

"It's a power source, Doctor Wilson." He kept typing away at that computer, running calculations over and over again. "It generates its own energy."

Ash nodded in understanding. "Doctor Selvig, would you like to see my powers?" she suddenly had an idea. She as quite surprised that this would work given the fact that SHIELD- or whoever they were- had just brought her underground like this. They must have really been desperate if they thought a civilian could help them.

Selvig looked up from the laptop. "Only if you are stopping the rate of gamma emissions from this thing," he said.

Ash nodded again. "Watch." She stripped from her jacket, exposing her now dirtied blue hospital scrubs. The car wreck had left a cut on her elbow and she noticed blood had dried down her forearm when she had been unconscious. Nevertheless, she continued to edge towards the source, the power practically pulling her towards it. she gained a feeling of control she had never felt before. This cube, this Tesseract, could be her friend. She could use it to do so much good with her powers, save so m any lives…

She edged closer to the glowing thing, each step taking her closer to the source of this wonderous power.

* * *

Clint Barton sat lazily in a small alcove high above the Tesseract. He twirled a knife in one hand, keeping a cold and watchful eye on all the happenings below him. this was getting interesting. He had just been about to come down to find Coulson when the man had barged in with a woman in tail. She looked like a doctor- if her clothes were any indication of her profession- and she looked pretty bad off.

So she had been the source of this? She had caused this thing to start malfunctioning? From what he had gathered listening through the SHIELD scanners that was the case. He just found it amazing that a civilian with no record of extraordinary capabilities could just surface like this.

He looked over the railing, propping his elbows on it and resting his chin against them. The doors opposite the side he was on opened up again and he was able to make out Director Nick Fury walking through the doors, his black leather jacket fanning out behind him as he all but ran through the doors. "Talk to me, Selvig," Fury's deep voice reached up to the alcove Clint was sitting in and he was able to detect every word Selvig said as well.

"This thing has gotten worse by the minute."

"Why don't you just unplug it?"

"She's a power source. We unplug her she just powers herself back up again."

Clint was able to make out one of the female scientists speaking as well. "Doctor, it's spiking again."

Erik went over to help the female scientist. Clint could not help but notice that as the female doctor- Wilson, he thought her name was- got closer, the more powerful the Tesseract grew. Surely Fury could see that.

"Where's Barton?" Fury asked as he looked around.

Erik looked up. "Who? You mean the Hawk? He's in his nest."

Clint rolled his eyes. Selivg knew that he hated that name, yet the old man seemed to use it when referring to the young assassin. With a roll of his eyes, the archer stashed his knife in his boot and let a rope down to the level that Fury and Selvig were on.

Fury walked over to him then. "I thought I put you in charge of keeping an eye on this thing. How can you do that when you're way up there?"

Hawkeye remained looking dead ahead at the Tesseract and the stupid woman that kept getting closer to it. If she got any closer she would physically be able to touch it. Since the gamma emissions had started, no one had been able to get up near it. "I see better from the sky," he said simply as he kept walking. The woman was about to touch the Tesseract.

"Do you think it's wise for this woman to be anywhere near here?" Clint turned to Fury.

"Coulson gave me a brief of her powers. He thinks she's the one that made it start acting up in the first place. If she can get to the safety switch at the base of the cube we should be able to power it off enough to keep it level."

"I don't think it's this end that's making this thing tick, Director. I think it may be something at the other end."

"The other end?"

Clint nodded. "It's essentially a door, right? Doors open both ways."

Fury squinted his one good eye, taking in what the archer said. Then he turned to Doctor Wilson. "Doctor, this situation has just been deemed unsafe. You are to come back to the outer ring now."

The woman appeared not hear him, or it was too late by the time she did. Because just as her hands met the Tesseract, the strongest wave of energy yet shook the building… and a stream of blue gamma shot past the woman's slim figure and blasted into the wall at the opposite end.

* * *

Ash didn't know exactly what made her reach out for the Tesseract. After a bit of talking, she and Erik had decided it would be best if she tried to stabilize it. in touching it, she knew she would cause some sort of energy give off, but she had not expected this…

She felt her bangs flutter around her face as she dipped down behind the arch that housed the glowing blue cube. The stream of pure energy had been caused by her. That she was sure of.

When it was over, she looked up. The Tesseract itself was stable, but a glowing cloud of gamma hovered in the far corners of the room, turning and zapping like a surreal lightning storm.

It wasn't the storm that was the worst part, though. As her gaze travelled downward, she noticed a hunched over figure, smoking and covered in rubble. Every instinct in her untrained body told her to run. Instead, she ducked down and out of the way behind the arc that housed the Tesseract.

She peaked out to see the figure raise his head, an evil smile plastered on a really pale face. She discovered herself to be hyperventilating- but she wasn't sure if it was form panic or the rush of adrenaline that had come with exposure to that much power. Fear soon took its place though as the- alien? Man? What was she even supposed to call it? -Stood up slowly, brandishing some sort of staff with a glowing orb at the end of it.

How had all of this happened to her in a mere matter of hours? Just this morning she had been studying for an exam to pass for surgical qualifications. Now she had unleashed an alien dude badly in need of a haircut and a shower.

"Sir," she heard a voice that belonged to the tall, black man in an eye patch- Director Fury, she thought his name was. "Put the staff down."

She peaked out from her hiding spot again to see what he would do. He seemed to deliberate for a moment before letting lose a ball of energy directly at Fury and the other agents. A bunch of computers had gone down in the process and Ash covered her head protectively. She just wanted to be home right now. This was not how she wanted to die. And she was drawn to a startling realization that that was quite possible. She watched as the alien man took out five armed gaurds, their bullets deflecting off of his chest and making his way over to the Tesseract before sending another ball of energy at the female scientist's station. The woman fell down in a shower of sparks, but she didn't get up.

Out of all the ruckus, Ash could feel the last electrical impulses that drove the woman's heart to beat tremble feebly before the light left the scientist's eyes.

The alien man made it past her, heading straight for an agent with a short buzz cut and killer arm muscles- why she noticed this at a time like this she had no idea. Maybe she was hoping his physical fitness would stop the alien man.

She watched in horror as the alien grabbed hold of the agent's arm, keeping the gun that the agent held aimed away from him… and pressed that glowing thing at the end of his spear lightly into the agent's chest. A wave of energy rocketed through the agent- one she could feel was just as strong as the Tesseract had been- and his eyes glazed over in a light blue glow. The agent slipped his pistol into its holster as the alien man turned away from him. She watched as he did the same to another guard. They were seemingly under his control now.

She curled up against the metal arch. The alien man still did not see her, and she hoped he would pass her by. A strong hand lighted on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Director Fury indicating the cube. He wanted her to get the cube!

Gathering her courage- which was considerably lacking- she reached up for the Tesseract and slipped it into the case fury held open. He nodded to her as he closed the case and pushed her forward towards the door.

"Please don't." Ash stopped in her tracks and so did Fury. "I still need that." The alien man had spoken… and he sounded straight out of a Lord of the rings movie. Ash could not register how stupid she was to even think that in these circumstances.

"I think we're finished here," she heard Fury say quietly, steadily. His assuredness helped to calm her at least. "And who are you to stop us?"

The alien man smirked. "I am Loki of Asgard and I am here burdened with glorious purpose."

Ash could make out Selvig's voice as he stood up from the dead scientist's body. "Loki, brother of Thor?" Ash had no idea what that meant, but it seemed to annoy the alien.

Fury just stood there, case in hand as Ash looked on. It was all she could do. If she ran, she knew her knees would give out before she got very far. Her breaths came in shallow gasps. "And what would that be? We have no quarrel with your people."

The man twitched his head slightly. "An ant has no quarrel with a boot." Ash really hoped this wouldn't turn into a monologue- she really didn't think she could stand being in a life or death situation much longer. "I come here with glad tidings," the alien man- Loki? - began. Yep. There was a monologue attached to this. Ash had only seen met this guy a few minutes ago and she could already tell he was a spotlight lover. "I am here to free this world of freedom. Freedom is the great lie. You were made to be ruled and once you accept that-" he turned around to Erik and placed the tip of his staff into the old man's chest. "You will know peace." The old man's eyes turned blue like Agent Barton's had.

Ash really wished Fury would just shut up and try to make a get away, but for some reason he stayed planted where he was. "Yeah. You say peace. I kind of think you mean the other thing."

Just then, a blast shook the building, coming directly from the gamma storm cloud thing. Ash coughed up a bit of dust. "Sir," she could make out the agent with the buzz-cut's voice as dust rained down. "Director Fury is stalling. He knows the Tesseract is unstable."

What the hell was that guy's problem? Hadn't he just been working with Fury mere minutes ago? Ash looked over at Erik who had piped up as well. "He's right. We have very little time before this goes critical."

Loki looked to Hawkeye and nodded. The agent pulled out a pistol and aimed it directly at Fury, shooting the director in the stomach. Before she had time to think, she felt a tug on her body and she pulled energy from the Tesseract, drawing up a blue force field to block the agent's bullets. It nearly knocked her out, the sheer force of it.

The alien man cocked his head to the side, half amused, before he aimed his staff at her and delivered what should have been a killing blast directly into her chest. She felt her body fly through the air, skid to a halt, and then everything went black.

* * *

**We will get more into Ash's powers next chapter, just putting that out there, so most likely your questions will be answered :) **

**Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews! I hope this will live up to the wonderful suport you all have given me already! **

**~Sirius**


	3. Chapter 3

Ash felt the hard, cold floor of the hangar under her cheek as the real world came back to her. She opened her eyes and was able to make out Loki and his minions heading towards the doors that would lead them outside- at least that was her reasoning. She stayed motionless for fear of that bastard turning back around and shooting her again with a blast of energy from his spear. The floor shook as the doors closed shut behind the men.

The Tesseract was gone, but the storm it had left was nowhere near finished. She didn't have much time. She tilted her head to the side upon hearing an injured Director Fury's voice. She saw the guy attempting to pull the bullet that Barton had shot him with from a wound in his side. She did not feel weak as she had expected- Loki's blast had seemed to only rejuvenate her after the initial shock of someone trying to take her life.

She sprang up and ran to the director, slipping into triage mode and assessing the situation. He was strong and he would be fine even if she did not treat him, but a look of relief seemed to pass his angry features as she went to work on the wound. He pulled out a walkie talkie and radioed into someone called Hill. "Barton's been compromised, do you read? Don't let Barton get away!"

Gunshots were heard over the radio seconds later and Ash cringed. _Please no more casualties…_

"Sir he's gotten away. I am in pursuit do you read?"

"Very good," Fury said in a commanding tone. Ash got him stabilized and he got up on his own. "We need to move," he said to Ashley. "That guy is not getting away this easily."

Ash nodded. "Um… Is there any chance of saving anyone-"

"There's no time. We need to get you out of here, Doctor," Fury said quickly. "After that little stunt you pulled you may just be the only person that can stop the Tesseract all together." Fury radioed in to Coulson. "Coulson, pick up. Do you read?"

Ash was able to detect Coulson's slightly more agitated voice. He was clearly helping with a full scale evacuation. "I'm here, Sir."

"I have Doctor Wilson with me. I am about to head out in pursuit of hostile forces. Over."

"Yes sir. I will meet you on the helicopter pad. We have a bird ready to go with evacuees. We can get her out that way."

Ashley couldn't help but wonder why they were taking such good care of her. Fury had started walking as he had spoken with Coulson, indicating for Ash to follow him. She found herself jogging to keep up and constantly trying to steady her feet as the ground shook. She could tell the Tesseract was getting further and further away. The waves it was emitting were not nearly as strong.

"Follow those doors," Fury said as he indicated a set of double doors down the hallway. Coulson will be waiting for you." Ash's eyes nearly popped out of her head to see the Director yank a gun from under his coat and load it.

Ash nodded as the Director took off in the opposite direction. She inhaled once before another explosion sent her running down the hall.

* * *

"Just leave it!" Coulson said to his subordinates as a large blast shook the building. "We need to get out of here." The boxes that the agents had been trying to transport toppled down the steps and Coulson had to fight to keep his balance as well. He latched onto an agent that almost fell down the steps and jerked him towards the exit. Fury had said that Wilson would be here. If she didn't show up soon, though, he was contemplating leaving without her.

He stood on the helicopter pad, waiting.

"Sir, the place is coming down!" he heard one of the young scientists yell to him over the roar of the chopper. "There's no telling if she's even still alive!"

Coulson turned to him. "I have orders from Director Fury. We wait."

A blast shook the levels of the building the helicopter was positioned on. Overhead, the helicopter that Director Fury was supposed to use passed over them. Coulson could define car lights travelling towards the interstate. A figure was in the back of the truck, a glowing stick in his hand. The helicopter hovered over the truck in hot pursuit. Fury needed assistance…

"Alright," Coulson said after a moment of deliberation. "Let's move out." The helicopter pilot nodded as Coulson lugged himself into the helicopter. It started to hover as the blades spun faster and faster.

Just then, the doors to the upper levels burst open and Doctor Wilson came sprinting for the helicopter. "Wait!" she screamed frantically, waving her arms as she sprinted towards the hovering aircraft. She latched onto the landing bars directly beneath Coulson's feet, eyes wide and… glowing?

Coulson did a double take. Sure enough her eyes were _glowing_ the same blue of the Tesseract. Fury hadn't mentioned that…

Snapping out of it, he reached down to grab the girl's wrist. She was obviously not accustomed to field work at all. The helicopter swayed a bit at the added weight on one side, veering off course. "Wilson you are gonna have to help me out here," Coulson yelled down to her. "Prop your leg on the bar and use it to pull yourself up."

The young doctor did so. The helicopter was now twenty feet in the air and Coulson could see the foundation of the research base throbbing with each blast of gamma that occurred. It wouldn't be long before it collapsed completely…

Ashley landed in the passenger compartment, splayed out at Coulson's feet. As her breathing slowed, her eyes stopped glowing.

With the woman safely in the chopper, Coulson turned his attention back to Fury's helicopter. He could make out gunfire being directed at the truck. Fury was going to get them.

All positive thoughts shut down as a blast of gamma was ejected from the glowing orb at the end of the figure in the back's spear… and collided straight into the chopper. The energy took the tail off of the helicopter, sending it in a downward spiral. It crashed in flames on the desert as the truck made it to the main road. Coulson let out an irritated huff.

"Director Fury, do you read me?" Coulson said solemnly.

There was a brief silence on the other end that nearly made the seasoned SHIELD agent stop breathing. And then Fury's deep voice blared through the radio. "The Tesseract is now in enemy hands. Hill? I need a damage report."

The voice of Maria Hill reached Coulson's ears. That made him a bit more relieved as well. After the female agent gave her report Fury spoke up again. "Listen up. The Tesseract has fallen into enemy hands. As of right now. We are at war."

Coulson resisted the urge to stamp his foot in irritation. He just didn't _do_ that. "What do we do now, Sir?"

"We get ready," Fury's voice rang through the walkie-talkie.

* * *

Ashley sat with her arms crossed back at SHIELD headquarters in the city. A cup of untouched coffee sat before her on the table and she watched as the rest of SHIELD swarmed around the room. Agents came and went with file folders, passing them off to Coulson and then leaving as quickly as they had come. Ash closed her eyes.

She was waiting on a few tests to come back that SIHELD had done, but she knew they wouldn't find anything. When her powers had become prominent in her childhood, her father had taken her to specialists and gene therapy sessions. Nothing had worked and she soon learned to harness her powers and control them for her own good. Quite frankly she had no idea _how_ she had gotten this way. All she knew was that one day she had been normal and the next she had woken up with a static current clinging to her body. When she had touched her lamp on her bedside table she had blown the bulb straight out of the socket.

As she grew older she had worked with her abilities, reigning them into where she could use them more as a detection method. That was what had made her so talented in the medical arena. Electricity was life.

She opened her eyes as Coulson spoke, thinking he was speaking to her. Instead she saw him talking into a cell phone. She only caught the tail end of his sentence… "Put the woman on the phone or I will blow it sky high before you can reach the lobby."

Ash's eyes went wide yet again. So you didn't mess with SHIELD. At all, apparently. "Natasha." Who the hell was Natasha? "Natasha," he said again. Whoever Natasha was sure knew how to talk because Coulson waited another few seconds before talking over her. He looked over his shoulder at Ash carefully before turning back and muttering something into the phone. It sounded like he was talking about Barton- the dude that Loki had gotten to.

After that, both lines went quiet. Ash was about to leave the room when Coulson motioned to her to stay seated. She sat down with a little sigh, propping her head in her hands and waiting.

* * *

"_What are you waiting for then?" "The right partner." "Steve?" "I gotta put her in the water!" _

Steve Rogers pounded each thought into the large punching bag, driving out all of his anger, frustration, confusion, anything emotional that he didn't want to feel. He had been asleep for seventy years. During that time everything had changed. Everything had gotten so… complicated. Most of all, Peggy Carter's voice haunted him, that and the look on his friend Bucky's face when the poor guy had fallen to his death from HYDRA's train. He should have saved him. He _could_ have saved him… The train had just been so damn high!

He beat harder into the bag. Fallen buddies, Peggy, even the scientist that had died at the hands of that HYDRA agent's gun right in front of him…. all those faces that he would never see again. Even with all the superhuman strength in the world, he was still weak.

With that last thought, he plowed into the bag even harder, breaking the hinges and sending it far across the room as if trying to prove himself wrong.

"Trouble sleeping?" Director Nick Fury's voice reached him as he picked up yet another bag and attached it to its predecessor's place on the hinges suspended from the ceiling.

He let out a breath as he undid the tape on his hands, walking towards a trashcan as he spoke. "I slept for seventy years, Sir, I think I'm good for now."

He turned back around to face Fury. The man had a file folder in his hand and he handed it out for Steve to take. The soldier wiped his sweaty face on the hem of his shirt as he threw the last of the tape away and grabbed the file. "Trying to get me back in the world again?"

Nick fury gave a sort of smile that didn't indicate any humor. "Trying to save it."

Steve crinkled his brow as he opened the manila file. Six photographs of people looked back at him. One name in particular caught his eye. Stark? He slipped it out of the folder and examined it. Tony Stark… "Is this…"

"Howard's son? Yeah. He's made a name for himself in the energy arena recently. Says he's using something called an arc reactor to provide clean power."

Steve knew he was looking at the director like he had three heads. "And the rest of these people?"

"Well, that's one of the reasons I'm here to talk to you."

Steve's gaze looked over the package. "Who's this?" he asked as he indicated to a picture of a pale man with dark hair. The picture looked like a shot from battle, very different from the other headshots." There was a lot more in the file by way of information.

"His name's Loki. He's… not from around here," Fury said with that same half amused, half not amused tone in his voice. "He broke into SHIELD and stole this. I'm sure you are familiar with it."

Steve looked over at a picture that was clipped to the top of the opposite page. He hadn't seen that thing in so long… How did people now a days get such realistic pictures anyways? "Yeah. I'm familiar with it," he said as he tossed the file back to Fury.

"Got any idea why Loki'd be interest in it?" Fury asked as he followed Steve back to the row of punching bags that lined the floor.

"Nope," he said as he hoisted another bag over his shoulder nad grabbed his gym bag while walking towards the door.

"So what should we do then?" Fury said. He seemed to be drilling Steve for an answer. He got one.

"You shoulda left it at the bottom of the ocean."

* * *

Coulson got off of the phone a few minutes later. Ash sat up when he was off of it, waiting expectantly. "Director Fury wants me to give you this," he said as he slid a file over to her. "Think it over. You have twelve hours to repond."

Ash brought her hand down on the file as it made it to her, stopping it. She opened it and her eyes went wide. She looked up at Coulson and nodded, but the agent had already left.

Looking back at her was a picture of the very thing that alien dude had stolen among something called "The Avenger Initiative." And Dear God! Was that… Tony Stark? _The _Tony Stark? She felt her jaw drop.

There was a woman called Natasha with short, bright red hair; _The _Tony Stark; a man by the name of Steve Rogers; and… was that a rock? If rocks were radiation green and had facial features she was certain that this… thing… could pass for one.

She looked over at the Tesseract-thingie. That cube had given her the highest fix than anything she had ever felt…. If that deranged psycho with the glowing staff had it… there was no telling what would become of it.

She decided it would be best to play along with SHIELD- or whoever they were- for now. Her patients would be taken care of at the hospital, her job? Well, not so much. She was probably already fired after disappearing the way she had. Again, a building full of type A personalities took little to no crap- no matter how good you were.

Besides, this was her shot at figuring out just what made her the way she was. Something in her gut told her the Tesseract would have the answers she was looking for. It was just a matter of getting it.

* * *

**Yes? no? How are YOU liking this? Review? :) **

**Next chapter will feature a bit of Loki... just tossing that out there. **

**Thanks!**

**~Sirius**


	4. Chapter 4

To say that SHIELD was a high-tech organization was an understatement. Ash found herself surprised with each turn she made through the government system. Though she had only been with the group for two days, she had learned more about the world than she had in the whole of her lifetime. That was a truly impressive feat for someone fresh out of medical school.

Which was why now, as she looked at the huge air-craft carrier before her at the landing dock, she was a bit confused. Fury thought he was going to keep clear from Loki in _this_? The red-headed agent (Who Fury had introduced as Natasha Romanoff) stepped up next to her, arms crossed and a gun strapped to her thigh. "Fury wants you onboard now," Romanoff said curtly to her. "We're about to leave port." She tossed her chin-length red hair out of her eyes. She squinted up at Ash, who was nearly a head taller.

Ashley nodded, grabbing her one backpack that she had been using as a suitcase and walking up the gang plank. Salt air hit her and she inhaled. It really was nice at the beach. She hadn't allowed herself time to go there in a while. Her patients had been her top priority. Now she found herself on the top of the flight deck. Men and women walked around, making the final preparations for the ship's departure.

Natasha stood right next to her as the ship left port, every so often placing a hand to the communicator in her ear. The sun was very bright and Ash found herself squinting constantly. She wanted to go below deck. Soon. Her fair skin was probably already burned after being on the docks for so long. SHIELD was efficient when they wanted to be, but today she had been waiting for what felt like hours. Her comfort was clearly not a priority anymore.

"Doctor Wilson," she heard a deep voice call to her from the door. She turned her head to see Director Fury and a small, tan man with glasses and dark curly hair making their way to her. She walked up to Fury, Natasha never far behind. "You've already met Agent Romanoff, but this here is Doctor Banner. He will be helping us locate the Tesseract. You two will be spending some good quality time together if I understand your effect on the cube correctly."

Ash nodded briefly. "I'll do my best," she replied smoothly. Then she turned to the other doctor. "So you're a doctor too?" Banner nodded as they shook hands.

"Bruce Banner," he said quietly. Ash remembered the name from the file she had read. His name had been by the green boulder… he didn't look so big now…

"Ash Wilson," she replied. He nodded, looking back over the deck. She kept her mouth shut about the files she had read on him. His name had actually been tabooed in the medical community after the stunt he had pulled with gamma experimentation. Ash had never fully understood _why_ he had been so keen to study it further, but she did not question him about it.

The ship was further out to sea now and Ash could hear the jets of a plane overhead as it got nearer to the landing portion of the flight deck. Ash looked up to see a black jet touch down gently on the bright deck.

She could make out Phil Coulson coming out as the backdoor opened with a hiss as well as another man. Ash had to force herself to stop staring as a very well-muscled, very good looking man with dirty blonde hair stepped from the plane behind Coulson. She was about to follow Bruce over to meet the new arrivals when Natasha informed her that Fury wanted to speak with her.

With a little huff, Ash nodded and turned on her heel, following an agent that had come up top to retrieve her.

* * *

Ash had been called to speak with Fury on the bridge.

"Nice to see you again, Wilson," Fury said as he stepped away from the control panel at the bridge of the aircraft carrier. Ash had never imagined aircraft carriers to look like this. She had been on one when she was younger on a school trip, but this was entirely different. This one looked like something out of Star Trek.

Ash nodded to Fury. "What can I do?"

"The results of your blood tests are in," he said swiftly as he placed a file folder down on the round table of the bridge. It looked like it was fit for a meeting of sorts. Ash took the file.

"I told you there wouldn't be anything, Director," she said swiftly… and her jaw dropped when she looked through its contents. Her blood toxicity levels were off the charts when it came to… Iridium?

Fury kept his eye on her as she read through the results once… then twice. "This… this wasn't here before…"

Fury raised an eyebrow. "Doctor, SHIELD is privy to exceptional medical analysis that civilian hospitals cannot provide. Were you exposed to this substance in any way, shape, or form when you were younger? As a child, perhaps? It may be the cause of your powers if they do not run in your family."

Ash shrugged. "Honestly, Director, I can't tell you. I truly don't know. I barely knew my mother. All I know is that she was a scientist. She may have been exposed to this and it was passed on to me during her pregnancy." Ash knew it was a long shot, but it was all she could think of. Her father had told her that her mother had trotted the globe searching for abnormal scientific anomalies. It was quite possible that this was the case now. Maybe her mother had been tampering with the element.

Fury nodded. "Well, we'll get to the bottom of it. In the meantime I want you to focus on using your talents for finding the Tesseract. You'll be assisting Dr. Banner when he gets down here. Sitwell?" Fury said to a dark skinned man sitting at a computer. "Run a background check again on Doctor Wilson's family." He turned back to Ash.

Ash nodded. "I met Doctor Banner just a moment ago. He seemed nice."

Fury seemed to let out a light snort. "Just make sure he stays that way, Doctor." He took her file back from her, slipping it into the inner pocket of his jacket. "We also just received word that Captain America has arrived. You'll be meeting a man from history here in a moment, Wilson."

At that, the ship began to lurch, the sound of gears on gears meeting Ash's ears. She held onto the table she had been at for stability, never taking her eyes off of the window in front of her. was it just her, or was this ship rising?

Another look out the window confirmed her suspicions. She should have known SHIELD wouldn't have just used any old aircraft carrier. This was something Ash never would have dreamed of in her wildest dreams.

"Impressive, isn't it, Doctor?" Fury asked from his place at the control panels.

Ash nodded absently. Her mind was still reeling from the new tests she had gotten back. Those tests had not been any different from the ones that she had seen in any other doctor's office. She had changed since the last time she had been tested. She wondered briefly if it had something to do with the blast she had sustained from Loki's spear.

"Captain," she heard Fury say as the same tall, blonde man she had seen on the flight deck walked into the room. "Glad you could make it."

Ash watched the man from her seat. He had passed her as he entered the room, and his back was to her now. She watched as he looked around dumbstruck- more than she was anyways. She watched as the two shook hands and Steve seemed to slip a ten dollar bill into Fury's hand. She tilted her head, smiling a bit in confusion.

Ash remained where she was, taking the tall man in. He had a beautiful face- for a guy anyway. He had dirty blonde hair, a strong chin, and dressed like he was from another decade. Ash had always liked men that dressed well… She shook her head as she found herself daydreaming about a man that had just walked into the room. She never did that. That had always been Lauren's thing.

She stood up after a while. He seemed to be cordial, but it didn't seem like he was all _there_. She had read about the Captain America project while studying the effects of steroids on the body. When she looked this guy over, he was the prime example of the perfect effects of such high dosages.

"Oh, uh Rogers, this is Doctor Ashley Wilson. She's helping us locate the cube alongside Dr. Banner." Fury's voice seemed far away as Ash finished her subtle survey of the man in front of her. The captain looked at her for a whole two seconds before his eyes darted away quickly.

"So… you're a super soldier," she said casually in an attempt to lighten the thick atmosphere. If she was going to be stuck on a floating airboat with these people she may as well make friends, right?

"Project Captain America, if you prefer," he said quietly. Steve looked down at the girl in front of him. He had been taken off guard when she had been introduced as a doctor. Women weren't doctors, were they? But he quickly reminded himself that this was the twenty first century and things hadchanged. Her mannerisms had thrown him as well. The only woman he had ever seen carry herself like that had been Agent Peggy Carter. But her mannerisms were where the likeness to his- what would she be? Ex-girlfriend?- stopped. She had dark brown hair, but there were streaks of red in it. Her eyes were also green and her face was more oval shaped than Peggy's had been. Still. Her head-strong tendencies were already showing through and he had just met her.

Ash looked at him for a moment. "So, do I call you Cap? Or Steve?" she deadpanned, mimicking his serious tone.

Then he smiled, laughing at her. "Steve works for me," he replied.

She smiled again. "So, how has it been… adapting to the twenty-first century?" she asked by way of small talk. She liked this Steve fellow.

"I am getting there. People don't seem to change all that much. It's the times that do, doctor."

Ash nodded. "Ash. Call me Ash," she said shyly.

Steve nodded, the smile still touching his face. "Ok, Ash."

Doctor Banner walked up to the two, rolling up his sleeves as Natasha crouched down to look at a screen. Ash was able to make out a picture of Agent Barton pass under the agent's fingertips as she looked through the files. Her fingers hovered over the picture slightly longer than the other files.

"Alright, we need to focus on finding the Tesseract. That is our top priority," Fury said as he spoke aloud to the group. "Scan every cell phone, computer, anything that is connected to a satellite to find this Loki guy."

"That's still not going to find them in time," Natasha said quietly.

Banner looked over at Ash. "I'll rough out an algorithm and see if I can start tracking the gamma emissions of the cube."

Ash's eyes went wide. "I'm not that kind of doctor," she said blatantly. "Tell me who to stich up and I'm good, but I am not a specialist in that arena."

Fury nodded as he looked over to Ash. "As for you, Wilson, just keep your senses up for anything funky. You will remain at the bridge with us until further notice."

Banner nodded in agreement. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

Fury looked at Natasha. "Agent Romanoff, show Doctor Banner to the labs."

"You're gonna love it, Doc," she said to Banner as she passed. "We got all the toys."

* * *

**OK! First interactions between Ash and Cap. Honestly, this chapter was a (insert not nice word) to write. It felt kind of… awkward? Yeah. Awkward. On the plus side, I have a bunch of stuff already written for what's coming up so updates SHOULD be more frequent. I apologize for the long wait, but I got involved with other stories as well as work life. You would think school being out would give me plenty of time to write but, alas, no. **

**But seriously, how was this? Was it good, bad? Should I continue it? I have a lot of drama and romance stuff ready for later on, but it has to build off of what I write in the beginning chapters (as you all know). **

**Leave me a note? :)**

**~Sirius **


	5. Author's note

_**Author's note: Hello!**_

_**I just wanted to take the time to formally apologize for my absence in this story. I have had real life issues and other stories that have kind of taken over and I just wanted to say that this WILL CONTINUE! Please don't give up on me and I will try to have an update up asap. **_

_**Christmas break is coming up and I hope to have time to write some on this. :) To everyone that has been hanging in there, thank you! I hope that I can bring you a good story that will make the waiting worth it. **_

_**My humblest apologies and I look forward to hearing from you all soon once the next chapter is up! **_

_**~Sirius **_


	6. Chapter 5

_**Ok, I'm back. For now. I am so sorry, guys. I had a look at my alerts a few days ago and saw I was nearing a hundred. I feel so terrible right now, but here's the new chapter. It took a little bit of digging to get back into this story. As I said in my author's note, I had a lot of other stuff going on- starting college for one. :P Plus I'm slightly ADD and got into other stories of a Loki/OC nature. :/ So here it is! I've kept everyone waiting far too long and I really feel awful about it! Forgive me?**_

* * *

Ash let out a huff as she sat back down on the bridge of the Helicarrier. It had been two hours since she had been anywhere else in the great airship and she was at a loss as to what to do. She didn't exactly fit in with the other agents onboard, her long brown hair flowed freely down her shoulders and her blue jeans and sneakers didn't exactly match the SHIELD jumpsuits either. She drummed her fingers on the large metal table, one hand coming to rest her chin in a few seconds later.

Agent Coulson had walked back on deck, hands behind his back as he made his way directly into the control section towards Director Fury. Out of the corner of her eye, Ash was able to make out Captain Rogers coming in behind Coulson. She held her breath, waiting awkwardly as he took a seat beside her.

He really was good-looking. She couldn't remember a time when she had gotten butterflies simply because of the way a man had looked on the outside. There had been that time during her freshman year in college with a fella in her anatomy lab, but other than that she had always been more of a substance kind of girl. Needless to say, that had left her quite barren in the boyfriend department. She had never had the want for one… so why was it so damn hard to formulate a sentence when she looked at this man?

She felt like she needed to say something though. They were both sitting at the same table alone after all. Wouldn't it be a bit too bitchy not to say anything?

"Have you… heard anything?" she asked quietly to the super soldier. Steve obviously didn't hear her, and she floundered a bit at first as she tried to salvage her dignity. All of the other agents hadn't been paying her a lick of attention, so she didn't feel too awkward when she realized that. "Did you hear anything about the Tesseract?"

Steve heard her that time, and he looked her way with raised eyebrows before he shrugged. "Naw. We probably won't hear anything for a good while. Banner is in the lab as we speak, but I just came back and he wasn't any closer to finding it than earlier."

Ash nodded as she looked down at her hands. "I haven't felt anything either, but I'm starting to think my abilities won't be able to locate it."

Steve shrugged, glancing down at a golden wristwatch under the brown leather of his jacket. "Well, we'll need to find it soon. I don't know what this Loki guy is planning but he probably won't wait around forever."

Ash nodded, feeling blood rush to her face. Why was this so hard? "So… what's it like? Being a doctor and all?" Steve said quietly. Ash looked to him, chewing on her lower lip as she tried to formulate an answer.

"It's alright," she said softly, crossing her arms carefully and leaning into the table. She ran a hand through her hair, and cringed as the ends caught in her fingertips. She really needed a shower. "I think I get more joy from it than most do." Steve nodded, meeting her gaze. She felt even more heat rush to her cheeks at that and she looked back down at her hands in an attempt to regain her composure.

"Taking joy from a job is important," Steve agreed, resting a palm on the table. "The feeling isn't fun when you feel useless."

Ash tilted her head at that. "You sound like you are speaking from personal experience."

Steve filled his cheeks with air, letting it out slowly as he sat back a bit in his seat. "I am."

"Captain America, Super Soldier, has felt useless?" Ash said incredulously. "I'll bet you were the golden boy back in your time." As soon as the words left her mouth, Ash regretted them. Because where most men would have looked back at her with a cocky grin, Steve looked back at her with a profound sadness.

"Not… not always," he said quietly. "I had my fair share of disappointment. Let's leave it at that."

Ash licked her lips, her embarrassment quite evident on her face. "I'm sorry," she said after a while.

Steve shrugged. "No big deal," he said as he made to stand up. "I'll see you around, okay?"

Ash smiled wryly, nodding as Steve went to stand down in the main part of the bridge. There were so many secrets, but in a way, Ash felt connected to this man. She wasn't sure what it was, but she liked him. He wasn't like most men, but then again, he _wasn't _most men. He was a puzzle; a puzzle that Ash fully intended to solve.

ooOOoo

"If it's not too much trouble."

Steve was wrenched from his thoughts quite suddenly as he looked down at Agent Coulson. The super soldier had been on the deck for the past ten minutes, his conversation with Dr. Wilson bringing back painful memories that he didn't care to think about in that moment.

Steve nodded absently, trying and failing to figure out what Coulson had been talking to him about. The SHIELD agent smiled up at Rogers happily as he turned back to look out over the agents.

"It's a vintage set," Coulson said a few seconds later. Oh, so he was talking about his trading cards again… "Took me twenty years to collect."

Steve's eyes widened considerably as he looked down at Coulson. In all honesty, he felt quite… awkward around the little man.

"We got a hit!" Agent Sitwell's voice came from over at the tracking table, and both Steve and Coulson's heads shot up.

"Talk to me," Fury said as he made his way from the control panels in the center of the room.

"319 Konigstrasse. Stuttgart, Germany. He's not exactly hiding."

Dr. Wilson had come over to the group at that point, arms crossed as she tossed her long dark brown hair over her shoulder. Fury placed a hand on the back of Sitwell's chair, looking at the picture of what looked like the man in the files Steve had come across.

Ash licked her lips, glancing over at Fury. "What do we do now, Director?" Coulson said in his clipped tone.

Fury glanced back at Ash, then looked at Captain Rogers. "Captain, you're up."

ooOOoo

Ash wasn't sure what made her pipe up. She had never been one to volunteer for anything in her life. So how she found herself raising her hand as Rogers left the room to suit up, she had no idea.

"What, Wilson?" Fury said as he started walking back to the table above the bridge at a fast pace.

Ash followed, easily matching the Director's stride. As one of the few female surgeons back home, she had learned how to hold her own when dealing in a man's realm of work. "Sir, I think I should go down there too."

Fury raised the eyebrow of his good eye before his face settled back into an amused expression. "Why?" was all he said.

Ash took in a deep breath. Her face had gone bright red again as she tried to talk and she knew if she didn't watch it she would get even more flustered. "Because I'm immune to Loki's scepter. That was proven back at the research facility-"

"I'm gonna have to shoot that down, Doctor. You aren't a field agent. You are a civilian doctor that we don't have any more need for, quite frankly."

Ash furrowed her brow, her temper rising at Fury's last statement. "Sir, I can get in and out of that party easily. I'm female, I'm inconspicuous, and Loki thinks I'm dead. He knows who Captain Rogers is and will be expecting him, no doubt. I can at least be an eye on the inside to help you all out."

Fury crossed his arms, listening as she continued.

"I think there's something more to the Tesseract than just an energy source, Director."

"That is none of your concer-"

"I'm connected to it. We all know that. It's obvious. Otherwise I'd be dead after that blast I sustained when Loki tried to kill me. But something in my gut is telling me that that party is where I need to be."

Fury pressed his lips together in a fine line, taking a deep breath as he thought through what she had said. "If I send you, you will be in a red zone. Loki is dangerous and he's a maniac that obviously has no regard for human life. You get in there, you'll have communication with us, but you're on your own until Captain Rogers shows up."

Ash inhaled slowly, her heart racing in her chest as she nodded. "I understand, Director."

Fury nodded, studying her resolve on the subject for a moment longer as he tapped his fingers on the table. It felt like much longer than a few seconds to Ash. "Alright then. We'll scramble a chopper to get you down there. You act just like any other civilian. Do not approach the hostile. Is that perfectly clear?"

"Yes sir," she replied.

It wasn't until after Agent Hill was leading her away from the bridge that Ash realized what a stupid thing she had done.

* * *

_**And there's the chapter everyone has been waiting for :/ Sorry so very very much, guys! On another note, I realize that it's highly unrealistic that Fury would send Ash down to Stuttgart given her background, but it was the only way I could think of to get some of her powers and capabilities to come to light. **__***winkwink* **__**Plus, it's fanfiction. So anything can happen right? **_

_**Is anyone still interested in this? I plan on continuing if the interest is there. I have this whole psychological thing that I want to add in as well.**_

_**~Sirius **_


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